In balers of the prior art, the crop material, such as stalks, stems and other cuttings from grass, cultivated plants, and the like, are fed into a pressing and a binding chamber from an intake or pickup mechanism by a feed mechanism.
Large-bale harvesters of this type are of increasing interest for farms because of their high area or coverage performance of several hectares per hour or more, whereby they can also be used when there are only brief periods of good weather. Most large-bale machines of this kind are round bale manufacturing devices, as is described in German patent application No. 27 40 399. The crop material is fed to the pressing chamber from an intake mechanism by press rollers positioned at the periphery of the pressing chamber to form a round bale, which is subsequently bound or tied up with cord.
The chief disadvantage of this kind of baler is the long idle time for the bale binding mechanism, which usually must operate for the same length of time as the mechanism for forming the bales so that the pickup is interrupted during binding.
A baler for rectangular bales has already been described in German patent document No. 32 08 645. The polygonal shape for the finished bale has the advantage that the bale is easier to transport and the space required in transport and storage is better utilized by about 20%. In these known balers the stalk crop is stuffed into the pressing chamber by a feed drum to produce a high density packing. After filling of the pressing chamber this device remains idle while the bale being made is bound or tied with cord and ejected.
The large-bale balers of the prior art have the inherent disadvantage, that a given idle time is necessary after filling the pressing chamber, during which the bales are bound and ejected. Furthermore they are relatively complicated and expensive.